MARK Hughes has been confirmed as the new manager of Manchester City.
City parted company with Sven-Goran Eriksson on Monday and were immediately given permission to talk to Blackburn manager Hughes, 44, with a compensation package agreed yesterday.
Hughes was also believed to be interesting Chelsea after a successful four years at Rovers but has opted to move to Eastlands on a three-year deal.
City's executive chairman Garry Cook said: “I am delighted to welcome Mark on board. In our view he is the brightest young manager in the game and he was our number one target for the manager's job.”
Hughes, who will be presented to the media at a press conference tomorrow morning, agreed to the move after meeting Cook yesterday evening.
Cook himself has only just had his appointment confirmed by owner Thaksin Shinawatra and flew in from the USA to seal the deal.
Ambition
Cook continued: “He made it clear to us from the moment we met that he shared our vision and ambition to make Manchester City one of the top sides in the country.
“It’s a privilege to join Dr Thaksin here at Manchester City. There is no better opportunity in world football.
“The club intends to invest in new players as well as securing the long-term services of key members of the current first-team squad.
“Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately.”
Hughes will take up his new position with immediate effect.
As Chelsea ran out of options to fill the post left vacant by the sacking of Avram Grant so City’s concerns grew that the Champions League finalists would gazump their bid for Hughes.
That’s what spurred City into a breakfast meeting today.
Hughes is expected to bring his whole backroom staff including Mark Bowen, coach Eddie Niedzwiecki and goalkeeping coach Kevin Hitchcock.
Arrival
Their arrival would spell the end for Derek Fazackerley and Eric Steele the two men left on the senior coaching staff from last season.
The deal for Hughes has been driven by Thaksin Shinawatra’s senior aide Pairoj Piempongsant who is being assisted by super agent Kia Joorabchian.
It is Joorabchian who is also at the centre of trying to persuade Ronaldinho to swap Barcelona for Eastlands. Piempongsant is expected to have more talks with the former world player of the year at the weekend.
Owner Thaksin Shinawatra has not been involved in the negotiations directly but sanctioned the chase for Hughes.
“He is an outstanding manager,” he said last night.
“These are exciting times for City and I hope the supporters understand that I share their goals. That sometimes means making ruthless decisions.
"Now we can go forward to a new era with a new management structure with hope and ambition. Mark Hughes and new executive chairman Garry Cook will both prove to be excellent acquisitions.”
What do you make of the situation? Have your say.
City confirm Hughes appointment
June 04, 2008
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BIG SAM For the Council House LOL
“That sometimes means making ruthless decisions. Now we can go forward to a new era, with a new management structure and great hope and ambition.”
This is what City have been missing for as long as I can remember, a guy in charge who knows when things are not right and does something about it even if it means going against what others believe.
In Thaksin we trust!!!
Why is this meeting being held in london and not Manhester??????
come on Dr T haters get your comments in quick.
i think that staement is spot on and these are still exciting times for city.
onwards and upwards no matter who is the manager we will always be blues through and through
IF CHELSEA NIC HIM, I"ll PUT SOMEBODYS WINDOWS IN.!
With whats been going on recently this will without a doubt all go pear shaped,do we really need a bloke who would quite blatantly rather be at Chelsea
I wonder where he'll end up - am sure Chelsea is the more attractive option for him, being an ex-player - decisions, decisions - hurry up and make your mind up tho sparky eh !!! cheers mate !!!
I wonder where he'll end up - am sure Chelsea is the more attractive option for him, being an ex-player - decisions, decisions - hurry up and make your mind up tho sparky eh !!! cheers mate !!!
He's a good choice but force his arm by opening talks with someone else. Zico perhaps.....
sounds like chelsea are more desperate than us to be honest which smacks of panic in these money mad times. the root cause of the possible chelsea implosion will be peter kenyon i think....clearly he did a good job at nitid but he is also too big for his boots and theres no guarantee (abramovich or not) that chelsea will continue to have success partic if mourinho takes a few top players.
c'mon sparky, please, please, please, and let be hughe(s) together.
WHICH SHADE OF BLUE??
I was a fan of Sven, but tell me this..When was the last time City lost two away games in one season by six and eight goals. I cant ever recall such a thing happening... If Frank needs to be "Ruthless" then fine, so be it. I want a trophy this season, hopefully the FA Cup.
thak gets my backing all the way just hope we can seal the deal asap. gonna check out the new city store in bkk on saturday when im there for 3 weeks. cant wait till we get the other 2 brazilians thanks dr t. maybe we will get top 6 this year? poss top 4????? bring it on hughes
MEN are hell bent on giving me a heart attack (think of the kids!) As I said on another post I believe Chelsea are putting a marker down on the off chance that if Hughes is successful at City they can hijack any approach from Trafford if and when the time comes.
I hope that to be the case, otherwise the merry-go-round lives on.
Well done MUEN - this story was accurate yesterday. However, I think you will find that press reports suggest Abramovich is not interested in Hughes and he is now 6th favourite for the job. Meanwhile most bookies have closed the book on who the next City boss will be - Hughes 1/10 clear fav.
i hope they have got him we will move forward and next season will be a biggy
Another superb piece of "insider" news from the MEN's man in the know!
Useless
Hes only in demand at Chelsea because the gutter press have put his name there.
What our club has done to deserve the vitriolic hatred of the press is beyond perhaps if our club and fans had not shown as much support for our neighbours when they lost their ground during the war and when they tragically lost so many in 1958 i could understand some of the bad press that we receive.But this continual media hatred has got to be addressed by the club and Fan's personally hope our new Exec Chairman employs the right people to project the clubs profile and i hope the fans stop buying the papers who print their derisive comments and opinions at our club.
In Frank I (still) trust.
'Today' meaning 00:10 hours. Not the case now methinks.
MARK HUGHES last night signed a three-year deal worth £9million to become Manchester City boss.
Sparky met City’s new executive chairman Gary Cook in London to finalise the contract.
He has been told that owner Thaksin Shinawatra will make a further £35m available for new players.
SunSport revealed exclusively on Monday that Hughes was City’s No 1 choice and that Blackburn had given him permission to leave.
City had to pay £4.8million in compensation for Hughes, 44, his assistant Mark Bowen and two more members of his Rovers staff.
In Frank I also (still) trust.
One (important !) thought - I'm very happy with the proposed appointment of Mark Hughes and his team. However I hope none of this will impact on the work of Jim Cassell and his team at the Academy. I believe that a youth coach is currently part of Mark Hughes' team - how would he fit in with Jim Cassell? We mustn't disturb the golden goose !
Is it me or has anyone noticed that the MEN dont appear to read their own reports. Pretty sure they reported only recently that Thaksin was going to make £65m available for new players. This now seems to have reduced to £35m and even with the modest amounts we may recive for players like Bianchi and Samaras it's still way short of £65m. MEN not sure why you bother quoting such figures when they've no basis in fact and how could they as no club would say how much they have to spend. If we are in for Jo and Ronaldinho then that's almost £30m on two attackers. God help our midfield, again !